The banks’ profits shrank last year as they had to create larger loan impairment provisions, which had grown by 42.2% since the start of 2014 compared with the 16.8% growth registered in 2013, the regulator said.

If oil prices stay at $40 per barrel in 2015, Russian banks will have to set aside 3 trillion rubles ($46 billion) for loan provisions, according to an estimate made by Russia’s largest state-owned lender Sberbank.

Russian Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Alexey Simanovsky said last November that Russian banks’ profits in 2014 would be 10% lower than in the previous year.